points -- for Brown (1-4).Albany committed 11 fi | Forum

Moeen Ali thanked the England selectors and team management after leading the
fightback on the first day at The Oval. Max Scherzer Jersey .Moeen, who caressed his
second century of the summer to help England rebuild from a perilous position of
110 for 5, admitted there have been times he would have dropped himself in
recent months and described some recent performances - not least his second
innings dismissal in the first Test of the series at Lords when he skipped down
the wicket to Yasir Shah and missed a leg-break - as embarrassing.But he
credited the faith and consistency of the selectors for the increased confidence
of the side in all formats and for his own improved performances.I probably
wouldnt have picked myself at one stage, Moeen said. I was embarrassed after
Lords. But they stuck with me. Thats the good thing about this side: they stick
with players and you see the results. Ive got to thank the selectors and
Alastair Cook. I probably wouldnt have picked myself at one stage. It was
50:50.Sometimes guys just need a bit of experience. Each game, you get a bit
better. Its a bit like my first-class career: when I first came in, I only
averaged 20-something. I got the odd 100 but struggled a bit. But after a while,
you get used to it and you get better.It has been noticeable that Moeens form
with the bat has improved since injury to Ben Stokes precipitated his promotion
back to No. 7 in the order. While he averages 14 as an opener (from six
innings), 28.06 (from 19 innings) at No. 8 and 21 (from 11 innings) at No. 6 (he
has not batted at No. 3, 4 or 5 at Test level), he now averages 97.16 (from nine
innings) when batting at No. 7. All three of his Test centuries have come in the
position.While he concedes he has to find a way to cope with the mental shift in
coming in as low as No. 8, he also makes no secret of the fact that he finds the
No. 7 position more comfortable. To a man who grew-up as a batsman, who used to
take pride in selling his wicket dearly and learned to build an innings, coming
in with the tail and often feeling the need to slog a quick 20 or 30 never sat
easily.Being pushed up that one spot up gave me a boost, Moeen said. I feel like
I can go out and play like a batsman. If I go down to No. 8, Ive got to do that
as well. After Lords I told myself that, even if I was batting at 8, I would go
out like I was batting No. 3 for Worcestershire.I was really embarrassed with my
shot at Lords. I decided I had to bat properly again now. I was sick and tired
of not scoring runs for England.You could argue that we saw both sides of the
continuity of selection debate here. While Moeen vindicated the selectors faith
with a century, James Vince failed again. It is increasingly hard to avoid the
conclusion that the faith shown in him will not, for now at least, be
rewarded.Neither selection was necessarily right or wrong. Had Moeen been caught
in the slips on 9, as he should have been, England would have been in deep
trouble and the decision to persist with him over Adil Rashid might have been
questioned once more. Vince, meanwhile, was unfortunate enough to receive a fine
delivery that demanded a stroke, lifted and left him. He was the only man in the
top four with no reason to rebuke himself for his dismissal.Vince may reflect,
however, on the harsh nature of international cricket. Deliveries like this will
come along from time to time, so it is essential that, once he has established
himself at the crease - and he has reached 35 on four occasions in Tests this
summer - he takes advantage. In years to come, he may well regret not
capitalising on those starts more than the three single figure scores he has
suffered.He was unfortunate here, for sure, but this was his sixth dismissal to
an edge to the cordon and his tenth dismissal in Test cricket without
registering a half-century. You cant keep putting these things down to chance.It
all means that England may well end the summer (they are likely to have one more
innings) with no better idea of their best middle-order than they had at the
start. With perhaps only the No. 4 spot up for grabs in Asia - it looks at
present as if Jonny Bairstow will bat at No. 5, with Ben Stokes at No. 6, Moeen
at No. 7, Chris Woakes at No. 8, Adil Rashid at No. 9 and Stuart Broad and James
Anderson at No. 10 and 11 respectively, Gary Ballance, who has not made an
irrefutable case for his own retention, may find himself competing with an
all-rounder who can act as the third spinner - perhaps Zafar Ansari or Samit
Patel - for the final spot in the side. Australias seamers may have noted, too,
that Moeen took a ferocious blow to the head from a Wahab Riaz bouncer first
ball. While his phlegmatic response to the incident was impressive - little
seems to ruffle Moeen - the likes of Mitchell Starc will have noted that the
technical issues that have, in the past, rendered Moeen vulnerable to the short
ball remain. With an Ashes tour little more than a year away, such moments will
have been stored in Australia for future reference.With Moeen stroking his way
to a century he rated as the best of his career to date - the standing ovation
he received on bringing up his century with a six suggested spectators at The
Oval agreed - and England finishing with a total only 50 or so under par, the
England management could fool themselves into concluding that all is well with
this team.They will know, though, that had Wahab not over-stepped and had the
Pakistan slip cordon been better, England could well have been dismissed for a
total of around 180. Whether they reach the No 1 ranking or not in the coming
weeks, they know that holes need to be filled. The depth of the batting keeps
masking flaws but, against the best sides - and we may not look back on this as
one of the stronger ages of Test cricket - the chances will be taken and England
will not be allowed to escape.Moeen remains a man on trial. His role as Englands
first choice spin bowler - a position that he held by a thread ahead of the Old
Trafford Test - remains debatable and he may well have an important part to play
in this match. While his bowling performances this series may have been
underwhelming (he averages 67.57 with this bat this summer and 71 this series),
his bowling returns since Lords have actually been noticeable better than Yasir
Shahs.Yasir has claimed four wickets for 562 runs since his 10-wicket haul at
Lords - thats a bowling average of 140.50 in the last two-and-a-half Tests -
while Moeen has taken seven wickets at a cost of 37 apiece. These pitches have
offered little to either man.Still, whatever happens with the ball, the depth of
Englands batting line-up continues to save them. Moeen, Bairstow - who may well
finish the year having broken Andy Flowers record aggregate of Test runs in a
year (he made 1,045 in 2000; Bairstow now has 911 with seven-and-a-half Test
left to play) from a wicketkeeper - Stokes, Woakes et al. continue to exhaust
bowlers and punish the mistakes of fielders. Not for the first time, Pakistans
four-man attack was exposed by the England lower-order at The Oval. That depth
may well prove to have been the difference between the sides. Cheap MLB
Jerseys Authentic . Two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the
finish line of the April 15 race in an area packed with fans cheering the
passing runners. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured, including
at least 16 who lost limbs. Anthony Rendon Jersey . I cant pinpoint a
date, but I do remember a player from my youth. Brian Downing was with the
Chicago White Sox at a time when I listened to every game I possibly could on
the radio. That particular season the late great Harry Caray was calling the
White Sox games. http://www.cheapnationalsjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-gio-gonzalez-jersey
. The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber
had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift
the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. UNCASVILLE, Conn.
-- Marqueese Grayson and Joe Cremo combined to score 39 points -- including nine
in the final 37 seconds -- and Albany overcame an 11-point, second-have deficit
to beat Brown 80-76 in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off on
Sunday night.Grayson hit three 3-pointers and finished with 21 points while
Cremo made 10 of 10 foul shots and scored 18. Greig Stire added 14 points and 12
rebounds.Graysons 3 with 37 seconds left stopped a 7-0 run by Brown and gave the
Great Danes (3-2) a 74-69 lead. Tavon Blackmon and Obi Okolie made layups for
the Bears, but Cremo hit two free throws after each to make it 778-73 with 15
seconds to go. Ryan Zimmerman Jersey. Okolie hit a 3-pointer
10 seconds later, but Grayson made two free throws to seal it.Steven Spieth
scored 25 -- his fourth-consecutive game with 20-plus points -- for Brown
(1-4).Albany committed 11 first-half turnovers as the Bears took a 39-30 lead
into the break and Joshua Howards layup with 16:01 remaining gave Brown a 47-36
lead. But Albany scored 19 of the next 20 points and Brown didnt make another
field goal until Okolies layup more than 12 minutes later. Cheap NFL JerseysCheap NFL Jerseys ChinaCheap Jerseys From ChinaCheap NFL Jerseys AuthenticWholesale Jerseys ChinaCheap NFL Jerseys ChinaNFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '